Let’s Make a Deal!

Former first half-brother Roger Clinton is scheduled to go on trial today in the South Bay for allegedly driving drunk in Hermosa Beach.

Don’t count on it.

We hear that Clinton is close to reaching a deal in which he’ll plead guilty to a single misdemeanor count of reckless driving. And there’ll be no mention of alcohol in the final disposition if the judge signs off on the plea bargain, under which drunk-driving and disturbing-the-peace charges are dismissed. That means no court-mandated alcohol counseling, no license suspension, no possible jail time. So, what gives? Attorneys aren’t talking. But you can bet there’s a story behind this story.

Clinton, 44, was arrested early Feb. 21 when police pulled his Ford Expedition over after he left a bar in Hermosa Beach. At the time police said Clinton, who lives in Torrance, failed to signal a turn, rolled through two stop signs and straddled the center line. Officers also said he flunked a field sobriety test; his blood alcohol was 0.10, over the legal limit of 0.08, we’re told.

Clinton’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, has claimed the cops illegally targeted Clinton in a case of “political profiling.” Geragos says that although police initially denied knowing it was Clinton when they stopped him, the defense obtained an audiotape from another law enforcement agency that showed Hermosa Beach police discussed Clinton 47 minutes before his arrest.

Geragos quotes the Hermosa officers as saying:

“There he goes. Do you recognize him?”

“Does he have Secret Service protection?”

“No, but his brother sure does.”

Hermosa Beach police did not return a phone call. Clinton was arrested less than a month after then-President Clinton pardoned him for a 1985 drug offense. He remains under investigation in connection with other presidential pardons.

First Daughters, Last to Leave

Presidential progeny Jenna Bush didn’t let a suspended drivers’ license ruin her summer in Los Angeles.

Last week, the 19-year-old Brillstein-Grey intern and her twin sister, Barbara, were spotted club-hopping in Hollywood and mingling with the star of “American Pie 2” Jason Biggs--entourages and Secret Service agents in tow.

Both girls have been cited this summer for using fake IDs to buy alcohol. Monday marked the first day that Jenna’s Texas driver’s license was reinstated. If she stays out of trouble until Oct. 6, her record will be clean.

Last Thursday, Jenna and Barbara took friends to the sexy club Deep, where she is considered a regular. Then it was off to the “American Pie 2” party--an intimate affair sponsored by Tanqueray No. TEN--at the home of 25-year-old producer Nicholas Loeb.

She arrived at about 2 a.m., missing “American Pie 2’s” stars Mena Suvari, Shannon Elizabeth, Eugene Levy and Lauren Holly. Even next-door neighbor “Bridget Jones’s Diary” author Helen Fielding had come and gone. But Biggs was there to greet the girls and join in a game of pool.

The twins outlasted a visit by Los Angeles’ finest--who cited the party organizer for noise. “Everyone had more fun after that,” our spy told us.

Drowning in Madonna

After several years of silence on the publishing front, two competing Madonna biographies are hitting shelves.

Andrew Morton, biographer of Princess Di and Monica (who no longer needs a last name), spills all in early November. But Madonna’s other biographer, J. Randy Taraborrelli, isn’t worried. “In my view, it’s over. The book has just been done,” Taraborrelli said. His book, “Madonna: An Intimate Biography” (Simon & Schuster), which debuted in the U.K. in April, was released in the U.S. last month to coincide with Madonna’s American tour--beating Morton by a few months.

Taraborrelli said he has interviewed the star and her family several times over the last decade. The family didn’t shy away from talking to him, he said, despite the fact that the biography is unauthorized. “I’m Italian American like Madonna, and it’s a special way of communicating.”

One of the misconceptions about the star he sets out to correct is that she’s cold and unemotional. “That’s not the case,” said Taraborrelli. On several occasions, he added, “she’s actually ended up having her heart broken. Alone and rejected.” Warren Beatty was one that got away, he said.

Finally, though, she’s found a good match. “She’s no picnic. She’s a superstar and rather spoiled,” said Taraborrelli. “Guy Ritchie has his own hectic life and career ....It’s a terrific meeting of minds.”

Meow

We’re wondering if publishing honchos Peter Bart and Kit Rachlis are on collision course. Bart, editor of Daily Variety, gave an interview to Los Angeles magazine’s Amy Wallace and then threatened to sue, according to Rachlis, the magazine’s editor.

The September issue of the magazine, due on newsstands Aug. 15, quotes Bart saying all kind of catty things about powerful people. Producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer “exude about as much charisma as Wal-Mart managers,” Bart says in the piece, according to the New York Daily News. Bart also advises Leonardo DiCaprio: “Go to college, Leo,” and Robin Williams, “Robin, enough of the message stuff.” Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein tells the magazine, “He said my shirt looked like I was a refuge from a food fight. He called me roly-poly.”

Rachlis said that “in the process of the piece, [Bart] did threaten to sue, but I haven’t heard anything since.”

Reached by phone, Bart said that he hadn’t seen the article but that he believes most quotes were taken from his Daily Variety column. “I’ve made smart-ass comments over the years,” he acknowledged, but “the noise about suing,” Bart said, “I haven’t made any noise.”

Would someone please pour the two a bowl of milk?

Sightings

Anjelica Huston--the lone smoker at a Saturday fund-raiser for Yo San University’s free health-care program--chatted with Ed Moses as her husband, artist Robert Graham, held court.

Admirers fawned over all three, with guests trying to out-compliment each other. At one point, Moses had had it. “Enough schmoozing,” he said, as he dragged the power couple away.

Quote, Unquote

“Well, I can wear heels now.” -- Nicole Kidman to David Letterman, looking on the bright side of her imminent divorce from Tom Cruise.

*

Times staff writers Gina Piccalo and Louise Roug contributed to this column. City of Angles runs Tuesday-Friday. E-mail: [email protected].